Thursday, June 4, 2015

Phil Steele's 2015 Pre-season All-Big Ten team

Is Joe Bolden really Michigan's best player?

Phil Steele released his pre-season All-Big Ten teams (LINK). Since these are almost all potential opponents this season, instead I'll highlight guys whom Michigan recruited out of high school. Ohio State leads the way with 15 players on the four teams. Michigan State is second with 13. Rather than listing all of the teams ahead of Michigan, I'll just say that Michigan's six players on the list are only ahead of Illinois, Northwestern, and Purdue.

That's the remarkable thing about this team right now--there are no standout players. Who would you pick as No. 1, 2 or 3 instead? It's either a total potential pick like Peppers or guys like Bolden who have accumulated some stats but haven't distinguished themselves.

Lewis, Butt, Henry. As you said Peppers ranking is totally based on HS rating and practice reports and a game vs the worst team in the MAC. As you say Bolden is the type of guy who racked up a lot of tackles due to playing so much but is he impacting a game that much in terms of making the other team adjust to him - that's what makes a top end player. So no on that front.

When you look at MSU and OSU's roster and compare to UM it is even more damning what a waste the Hoke staff was in terms of developing players.